At least that's the hope of the designers behind the Atlas of Our Changing Environment, a unique new Web site that uses a digital map framework to catalog damage inflicted on the Earth over the last few decades.

"It is as simple as seeing is believing," said Patrick Joseph, an environmental journalist who writes a blog for the nonprofit Sierra Club.

"You can read a million times over that the Amazon is being deforested, but satellite imagery really helps give you an idea of the scale on which it is happening."